Senior College Application Hub

Your Senior College Packet is required to be submitted to your counselor prior to requesting a counselor letter of recommendation, or by the end of November. If you are applying Early Decision or Early Action, your deadline will be sooner than this, depending on individual college application due dates.

MAKE A TIMELINE OF ALL YOUR APPLICATION DUE DATES: Count back 2 weeks from your earliest application due date that requires a counselor letter of recommendation - that is the LAST day you may meet with your counselor for a letter of recommendation (add in additional time to account for holiday breaks! This is also the target date for you to have your application materials completed.

*** If you have a TA or health/civics period, book during that time! | For lunches, ONLY BOOK DURING YOUR OWN LUNCH; do not schedule during your 4th period class time unless prearranged.

COMPLETE AND COLLECT ALL REQUIRED ITEMS:

•  College Tracking Spreadsheet 
• Completed Resume
• Completed Reference Form
• Copy of one or more of your college essay drafts (optional)
• Any additional supplemental college material you would like feedback on (optional)

 upload REQUIRED ITEMS TO FORMS at least 24 hours prior to your scheduled meeting
The Microsoft Forms link to upload your required items  will appear in your email after you book your meeting. Senior meetings are subject to cancellation if you do not complete this step.

rEADY? Book your sr meeting:TouranCovingtonWescott

College Essay Guy Guide to Recommendation Letters

• Typical Tesla STEM Class Schedules and Grad Requirements
• Tesla STEM 4-Year Course Planner

2024-2025 School Profile

This document is sent to colleges by your School Counselor as part of the School Report. It includes information such as:

• School Description
• Our Grading Scale
• Senior Class Size
• Course Lists and Designations

Visit our
Scholarships and Financial Aid page

EVERYONE SHOULD COMPLETE A FAFSA

Did you know? 
When you fill out the FAFSA form, you’re also automatically applying for funds from your state, and possibly from your school, in addition to federal student aid!

Did you know?
Some schools cannot consider you for scholarships (including academic scholarships) unless you’ve submitted a FAFSA form! 

Don’t make assumptions about what you’ll get—fill out the application and find out!

Early action students : submit by 1st college app deadline

Regular DECISION students: Submit by colleges' set financial aid deadline

College Visits Calendar & Registration page

Your application will begin with a main profile form that you complete with information about yourself as well as your education (school, classes and grades). Some applications can be used for multiple schools (eg. CommonApp, Coalition, TexasApply).  You will need to create a username/password before being allowed to complete the application and view it prior to submitting it.  Independent app schools will have their own application for their one campus.

Keep an eye out for check boxes on the application that will allow you to be considered for financial aid, honors, or scholarships. Some schools might have that within their application while others will have a separate application, so read carefully!

Final Review

We recommend that you do a final review/preview of your entire application before hitting the “submit” button. In CommonApp you will be able to see when any additional documents (eg. transcripts, rec letters) are submitted.

After your Application is Received

Many colleges will contact you via the email you provided in your application, prompting you to create an account in their college’s school portal.  This is the way most colleges will communicate with you regarding updates to missing documents, reminders for scholarship deadlines, and eventually your actual admissions decision.  Make sure to bookmark each portal and save your login information, and add in each college’s general address into your email provider’s “safe list”.

Personal Statement/Essay: Many colleges require one common personal statement

Additional writing prompts (including entire essays or short responses) may be required by some colleges. This information can be found on a college’s admissions website, within the “College Information” section of CommonApp, or listed as additional essays required in Independent apps. Hint: College essays tend to take more time than students expect – plan these out carefully and give yourself plenty of time for review/editing.

Essay writing instruction occurs embedded within your 12th grade (early September) English classes!

• The Activities List

• The Additional Information Section

• Recommendation Letters

• College Resume

• Interviews

Activity List/Extracurriculars/Honors/Awards: You will use your Reference Form & Resume to develop your Activities List. Be strategic in your descriptions of your involvements and what you choose to include (if there is a limit)

Official High School Transcript:

For CommonApp colleges, you will invite your school counselor by email to upload documents to your Common App profile, and they will upload your transcript as part of your “School Report” section. They will also upload your first-semester senior year transcript as part of your “Midyear Report”.

Some schools require an official high school transcript to be sent directly by mail from Tesla STEM, or electronically via your school counselor’s email. Please double check each college’s admission website to determine if and when an official transcript must be submitted.

EXAMPLES:

• University of Washington Seattle

 

 

Some colleges will also have you list out your entire transcript’s courses, sometimes within the “Courses & Grades” section of the CommonApp, through their Independent app, or via a private “Self-Reported Academic Record” (SRAR) portal. This enables a college to easily reweight your GPA or reprioritize specific coursework based on that college’s standards.

FOR EXAMPLE, UC colleges require that you self-report your courses and grades and will not accept official transcripts during the application period.

 

SAT/ACT scores: For those colleges that accept or require SAT/ACT tests: Many colleges let you “self-report” your test scores within the application. Some schools may require official scores to be sent to them - check the admission website of each school to determine whether official scores must be sent or if you can just self-report your scores.

• For ACT, you must log into actstudent.org and request/pay for score reports
  
• For SAT, you must log into collegeboard.org and request/pay for score reports

AP Exam Scores: Many colleges will ask you to self-report your AP Exam scores. Some colleges may require official AP scores to be sent to them, in a similar manner to sending SAT scores through collegeboard.org

https://www.collegeessayguy.com/blog/college-application-deadlines

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Approximate Dates for Typical Deadlines

Early	October 15- Nov 15
Regular	Nov 15- Feb 15
Rolling	~August 1- whenever seats are filled

 

 

 

 

 

Note on Early vs. Regular Deadlines:

Many colleges, particularly public colleges, do not solicit early applications and will have only one deadline (e.g. UW, UC’s). For those that do offer early application options, as you consider which deadline is best for you, ask yourself the following questions:

• Will you be prepared to submit all application materials by the early deadline (including recommender letters)?
•  Is it advantageous for a college to see your first semester senior year grades when reviewing your application?
• Is there an advantage for you in applying early? (e.g. admissions advantage, scholarship opportunity, early decision may mean not applying to other colleges?) Or to not apply early? (e.g. having time to consider options, ability to show first semester grades, later SAT/ACT scores, or other Senior activities)
• Do you understand the commitment of applying Early? Early Decision vs. Early Action?

Based on your major, select schools may require that you submit a portfolio or audition, particularly for visual and performing arts majors